Country boy and family man is high as a Kite

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Man on a mission: St George forward Brent Kite arrives at the SCG yesterday for his medical and photos following the front-rower's call-up for Country Origin. Photo: Craig Golding

Brent Kite and family have every reason to be soaring, reports Jacquelin Magnay.

Monday, May 3, 2004, will always be a memorable morning for St George Illawarra forward Brent Kite, and not just because he milled around the SCG with the other Country representatives receiving gear and instructions from representative coach Ricky Stuart.

Kite's elevation in the eyes of selectors was indeed a momentous event for the 23-year-old, but earlier in the morning he had already undergone a major change in his life. At 8.30am he was up at James Cook High School enrolling his new "adopted son" - wife Haley's teenage brother Tim, whom the couple are raising.

It just so happened that Tim officially moved in over the weekend, a family decision that came about because Tim's carers, his grandparents, were getting elderly - and the move coincided with Kite's selection on the Country interchange bench.

"We were all watching the footy, the match between the Bulldogs and the Broncos, at home when I got a call from the Saints football manager - we were all pretty happy,"Kite said. "Just quietly, I had my fingers crossed and I thought I might have an outside chance."

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Kite's selection follows his move into the front row at the beginning of the year - a shift Dragons coach Nathan Brown was forced to make because of injuries to some of his players.

But the switch has given Kite a new-found confidence. Now the ball seems to stick in his hands, something he says he has not worked on, but which has been a benefit of being closer to the action. Not coincidentally, the team is winning games.

"I think I have found my niche a bit in the front row because it is more of a leadership role," said Kite, now in his third year with the Dragons.

"There is a certain responsibility to get the team going forward and I like that, I feel that that is something that may have been holding me back over the past couple of years."

Kite learned his junior football with the Queanbeyan Blues, the team that produced his representative coach. And Stuart, who has earned his first rep coaching position in the wake of his hugely successful stint at the Roosters, said he had been impressed with Kite, particularly this season.

"He is such an explosive, powerful player, his attacking game is a big part of the reason he was selected," Stuart said yesterday. "The team will start the way it is, but Kite's ability to play back row or front row is tremendous, he is big enough to play tight around the ruck."

Every week a car load of Kite's family - his parents, two brothers and three sisters - travels up to Sydney to watch him play for the Dragons. His own family, that of Haley and Tim, will be leading that support on Friday night when the Country boys take on the City at Gosford.